Film Review: Elegy

"Elegy" **** (out of ****)

Time. It is something we all fear because we cannot stop it. The days, weeks, months and years go by, sometimes so fast, we often sit and wonder where did the time go? With time of course comes age. No one wants to grow old. Secretly we all fear it, I know I certainly do.

These are the type of things which David Kepesh (Ben Kingsley) often thinks about. He is a college professor where he teaches literature. We see him on the first day of class giving a lecture on Tolstoy's "War & Peace". He tells his students each time they go back and read it, it will always be different because they are different. Time has a way of changing their perspective. It is also during this first day of class that David meets Consuela (Penelope Cruz) another student. For David it is lust at first sight. Her beauty stuns him. David has a reputation for coming on to his students but he senses something different about her. He feels she is more old fashion and needs to be wooed.

At this point "Elegy" sounds like a film about a dirty old man who uses his students as sexual prey to fulfill his fantasy. I'd like to point out that is not at all what the film is about. The relationship between these two is never perverse. Consuela knows perfectly well what she is getting into. Penelope Cruz does not play a ditsy 20 something year old. As for David he understands their age gap and it bothers him. David is afraid of growing old. He fears Consuela will cheat on him with a younger man, someone closer to her own age.

David's only friend is George (Dennis Hopper). They are both the same age and in George's opinion, he should end their affair. He tells David nothing good can come from this situation. It will end with her dumping him. David agrees and he doesn't agree. He thinks he may have fallen in love with her, a feeling he says he has never felt before, despite having been married once before and having a son, Kenneth (Peter Sarsgaard), with whom he has problems with as Kenneth still resents David for leaving him and his mother.

Before meeting Consuela, David's life was fairly simple. He is a man of culture. He enjoys teaching, reading, art, he attends the theatre where he occasionally writes reviews for the New Yorker. He sees a woman, Carolyn (Patricia Clarkson) who wants nothing more than sex from him.

The film was directed by a Spanish filmmaker, Isabel Coixet. I have not seen any of her films. It was based on a novel by Philip Roth and adapted by Nicholas Meyer. The screenplay is amazing in the way it weaves through these themes so effortlessly. It is so intelligent and genuine. We care about all of these characters. The film has not been dumbed down for the greatest common denominator. David talks about the arts as someone who appreciates beauty would. I recently reviewed Claude Chabrol's latest film, "A Girl Cut in Two" and was disappointed in Chabrol's choice for the lead. A man whom I felt was ugly. It didn't seem conceivable that a younger woman would find him attractive. With Ben Kingsley, I wouldn't be surprised.

And that leads us to the performances in this film. I'm not sure I have seen two actors give better performances than Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz this year. Cruz is an actress I never thought much of. I first began to take notice of her after I saw her in Almodovar's "Volver", where she received an Oscar nomination. Her talent shined through in that film. I had of course seen her in American films such as "Vanilla Sky", "Blow" and "Head in the Clouds", but nothing really impressed me. This year, 2008, seems to be her year. With her work here and in Woody Allen's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" she has broken through. No longer can someone say she is only a pretty face. For as great as Ben Kingsley is, it was Penelope Cruz who light up the screen for me. When she is on-screen the movie sings. When she leaves the film it suffers. She should get another Oscar nomination.

Kingsley just seems so well suited for this character. We believe he is this man. We saw Kingsley play a character similar in "The Wackness", a film I didn't much care for but here Kingsley soars. I felt such a connection with his character. I could almost see myself in him. Even though I am 25 years old I rarely connect with characters who are my same age in movies. It is with characters who look at their life with regret that I find the most comfort. I feel the way they do. Kingsley takes this character and fleshes him out. Watching him in the role what other actor could have played the part? Jack Nicholson? Tom Hanks? Al Pacino? Robert De Niro? All fine actors but I think Kingsley has a quality to him which gives him both an every man appeal and yet we believe women would throw themselves at him.

I've read some people complain about the ending. It seems too forceful, reveals too much while going for an emotional ending. I disagree. The ending of this film could have really gone over the top but it doesn't. The film rings true. If anything, I was disappointed because the film ends at all. I wanted it to go on and on. I wanted to find out more about these people. What happens to them after the film ends?

In a year I felt has been truly disappointing here is one of the year's best films. A film for adults.